U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio began Congress’ assault on the White House plan to
relax trade, travel and diplomatic restrictions with Cuba, telling top
administration officials that he didn’t think they would be effective
and that human rights were being overlooked.

In the first of three congressional hearings on President Barack Obama’s
policy that are scheduled in various committees this week, Rubio laid
into the administration. Rubio reiterated his strong objections to the
policy, saying he had “deep reservations” about them.

He did, he said, “for the simple reason that I don’t think they will be
effective.”

The West Miami Republican and potential presidential candidate has
emerged as Congress’ chief critic for the new Cuba policy. In a Senate
Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Rubio said the opening
to Cuba neglected the reality of human rights abuses on the island nation.

Rubio took the reins of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee as
Republicans took control of the Senate last month.

The administration, represented by Roberta S. Jacobson, the assistant
secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, contended the U.S.
was pursuing the opening with its eyes wide open, and that it was time
to pursue a different strategy from the one that has failed for half a
century.

Both Rubio and New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, are key
Senate opponents to the policy, and both were involved in the
subcommittee hearing.

Menendez, in his opening statement, said that despite the length of the
negotiations between U.S. and Cuban officials, they didn’t yield
anything worthwhile.

“Let me be as clear on this issue as I have been since December,” he
said. “Eighteen months of secret negotiations produced a bad deal – bad
for the Cuban people. While it may have been done with the best of
intentions, in my view, we’ve compromised bedrock principles for minimal
concessions.”

He continued: “At the end of the day, 53 political prisoners were
released while so many more remain in jail – and the Cuban people –
those who suffered most under the regime – still have zero guarantees
for any basic freedoms.”

Other senators involved were supportive of this policy, including Sen.
Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California, and Republican Jeff Flake of
Arizona. Flake said it was time to relax travel restrictions between the
U.S. and Cuba, something he has pushed for years.

The Obama administration plans to open the door to Cuba become public
with a dramatic unveiling in December, with the release of U.S. aid
worker Alan Gross and the announcement that trade and travel
restrictions will be eased and that the U.S. would work to established a
diplomatic presence in Cuba.

In his questioning, Rubio pushed the administration for information on
who on the U.S. side negotiated for the changes, and drilled into the
fact that Jacobson’s office was not the prime mover of the changes. And
he wanted to know which pro-democracy groups in Cuba were consulted.

He also pushed for a declaration from the administration that the
opening of any diplomatic presence, such as a U.S. embassy, wouldn’t
come with restrictions on who in the country embassy personnel could visit.

Citing recent public comments from a top Cuban official, Rubio asked
Jacobson whether the U.S. would ever go forward with an agreement that –
as the Cuban official indicated – made certain pro-democracy activists
in the country off-limits.

In a back-and-forth with Jacobson, Rubio pressed her to answer what he
said was “a pretty straight-forward question.”

After first saying they were seeking to maintain the greatest ability to
speak with whomever they want, and that they were going to push to get
restrictions lifted, Rubio pushed for clarity on what the U.S. would or
wouldn’t allow.

She eventually said she couldn’t imagine going to the next stage with
such restrictions in place.

The first panel in the hearing has included Jacobson and another State
Department official. The second panel will include four Cuban human
rights activists.The first in a series of congressional hearings
examining the potential impact of President Barack Obama’s new Cuba
policy gets underway Tuesday in the Senate.

Later in the week, the action switches to the House with two hearings:
the main show — “Assessing the Administration’s Sudden Shift’’ — before
the Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday and a subcommittee hearing
on human rights in Cuba on Thursday.

The common theme for this week’s hearings seems to be whether Obama gave
away too much without getting enough from Cuba as the two countries work
toward restoring diplomatic relations.

That’s the position of Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who as
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Western Hemisphere subcommittee
called the first Cuba hearing at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

In an opinion piece he wrote Monday for CNN, Rubio recalled a line from
The Godfather Part II in which mob character Michael Corleone responds
to the demands of a U.S. senator by saying, “My offer is this: nothing.”

“In recent months, I’ve made clear that I believe the president and his
allies in Congress are misguided for supporting a policy that gives away
practically all the leverage the United States has to bring about
democratic change in Cuba in exchange for virtually nothing,” wrote Rubio.

The senator said he wants answers on what the administration has done to
secure the repatriation of an estimated 70 fugitives from U.S. justice
who now live in Cuba as well as “what exactly the Castro regime has done
in exchange for Obama’s softening of travel and banking regulations that
will now allow more U.S. dollars to fill the Castro regime’s coffers.”

Rubio, who is testing the waters for a possible presidential run, called
the hearing the same day he assumed the subcommittee chairmanship last week.

Among those scheduled to testify at the Senate hearing are Assistant
Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson, who
recently headed the U.S. delegation during normalization talks in
Havana, and Tomasz Malinowski, assistant secretary for democracy, human
rights, and labor.

Rosa María Payá, of the Cuban Christian Liberation Movement, also is
scheduled to testify. She is the daughter of Oswaldo Payá, one of Cuba’s
most respected dissidents when he died in a mysterious 2012 car crash.

She’ll be joined by activists Berta Soler, Miriam Leiva, and Manuel
Cuesta Morúa.

“The Obama administration’s sudden shift on Cuba policy raises many
concerns, including how hard the United States pressed the Castro regime
on its abysmal human-rights record during the secret White House
negotiations that cut out the State Department,” said Republican Rep. Ed
Royce, a Californian who chairs the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

“When it comes to the unilateral concessions provided to the Castro
regime, the Obama administration has much to answer for. From the
commercial goodie bag provided to the Castro regime to the pardons
bestowed upon three convicted spies, one of whom was responsible for the
murder of American citizens, the concessions provided to these Caribbean
despots is pathetic,” said South Florida Republican Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen.

“I look forward to hearing from State, Treasury, and Commerce and
questioning the basis for normalizing relations with an unworthy regime
that continues to detain dissidents,” she said.

In addition to Jacobson, John E. Smith, deputy director of Treasury’s
Office of Foreign Assets Control, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Commerce for Export Administration Matthew S. Borman are slated to testify.

During a Thursday morning hearing on human rights before the House
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and
International Organizations, Jorge Luis García Pérez, an anti-Castro
activist known as Antúnez, will testify.

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.